


Time Passing By

by Reality 2_1 (reality_2_0)



Category: Political RPF - US 21st c.
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-17 23:32:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13087755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reality_2_0/pseuds/Reality%202_1
Summary: set 2017; There's still sand left in the hourglass.





	Time Passing By

_The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it._  
Niccolo Machiavelli

~*~

He had been staring at the hourglass for a long time, a too long time.

When she had entered their living room, a cup of tea in each hand, he’d been watching the sand grains fall as if enchanted by the way they were involuntarily dragged downwards by gravity, the upper half of the hourglass slowly emptying as the bottom half was filled.

The phone had rung before she could sit down, and putting down the cups as well as telling him she’d take the call, she had walked over to their phone, smiling when she saw it was their daughter calling. Noticing her husband still hadn’t looked up, she moved into the kitchen. The call lasted over twenty minutes, and when she went back into the living room, she found he was still sitting in the same pose, was still watching the hourglass as if it held the meaning of life.

“It’s a beautiful gift,” she said, sitting down beside him. 

As if woken out of a trance, he turned his head, a small smile on his lips.

“It is, isn’t it? The sand glasses were mouth-blown. And did you know that the timer was composed of antique wood spools found in an abandoned textile mills in England? The spindle and wooden base were used sometime between 1939 and 1945 in a factory in England.”

“No, I hadn’t known that.”

He looked back at the hourglass, although his hand reached for one of hers, his thumb running circles over the back of her hand.

“To think that so much time has passed since then and that people have learned so little.”

He spoke softly, and yet, she knew that he meant every word, felt every word. When he’d still been president, he had done his best to fight for improvements for people, to fight for more peace in this world. It had never been enough. How could it have been? But he had never ceased fighting; the people working with him had never ceased fighting. 

Now the world news looked gloomier every day, and too many people were actually afraid what the future might hold.

Sighing, she took up her cup of tea, taking a sip without really tasting it before she put it down again.

“We can’t give up hope for a better future, we can’t stop fighting.”

He smiled at her words, at the fire within them. 

“We’re not made to give up,” she said.

“No, we aren’t, but…,” he trailed off, then began again. “We’re not the youngest any longer, are we?”

“So you think our sand is running out?”

“It is.” When he looked at her again, he was smiling warmly once more. ““It’s the nature of life.”

“Yes, but for one, there’ll be a new generation taking up the fight, and for the other, we’re not dead yet, there’s still life to be lived.”

“I know there is. These old bones are not yet done with me, or with you.” he teased.

“Old bones? This is getting better and better. And I hope you’re not done with me.”

He put down his tea of which he had just taken a sip, and turning to her fully, he ran his free hand through her hair before cradling her head and leaning in for a soft kiss that deepened, leaving her breathless when he pulled away. 

“I’ll never be done with you.”

“Good.”

She leaned in for another soft kiss, leaning her forehead against his, relishing the moment. 

This was good, this was right, and although they might have lost the vitality of youth, they had gained so much over the decades spent together. They had learned each other, had seen their partner at their worst and their best. Trust had been built, shattered and built anew, leaving them stronger than before.

She would take this trust in their love, in this relationship over being young once more.

They shared another slow kiss before parting, and when she leaned back, she looked over at the hourglass. It had run out of sand by now. He followed her gaze, then sought it out.

“How about a walk? The sun’s come out.”

“I’d love that.”

It was too seldom anyway they found the time to enjoy simple things like this. 

Getting up, they left their half-empty cups and the hourglass behind. It may have run out of sand by now, but that wasn’t true for them. They had a lot of life still to live and would do it to its fullest. 

End


End file.
